Much has been speculated, before and after Tuesday's keynote, the real role of (already extremely polemic) Face ID at the iPhone X.
A very popular theory states that Apple would have endeavored until the last moment to incorporate a fingerprint sensor on the device's own screen, leaving the facial sensor as a secondary identification method or the like; when attempts failed (and Ma refused to put the Touch ID on the back), they promoted Face ID as the only means of biometric security on the device, but the fingerprint sensor could still return to a supposed âiPhone XI / 11â if the technology is developed.
Second John Gruber (of Daring Fireball), however, not at all. Responding to tweet of a follower, who asked if there was a chance that the integrated Touch ID screen would appear on the iPhone X's successor next year, the âguruâ of the Apple world who has close relationships with several sources in Cupertino replied:
None. My understanding is that Apple has been all-in on Face ID as the replacement for Touch ID for over a year now.
– John Gruber (@gruber) September 13, 2017
@gruber I don't know if you've talked about it, but what do you think the chances are of Touch ID appearing on iPhone X next year?
None. My understanding is that Apple had already bet everything on Face ID as the replacement for Touch ID more than a year ago.
Gruber's information, of course, is supported by the fact that Face ID looks a technology fully developed and ready for the premiere in noble time even though the first demonstration failed (with good reason for that), Apple managed to explain didactically the whole process of detecting the user's face. I don't know about you, but until proven otherwise, in future reviews, I believe in technology.
¡ ⢠¡
A detail related to it, which had still gone unnoticed by all, however, that Face ID brings a very important limitation in relation to Touch ID. O TechCrunch confirmed with Apple that the iPhone X allows registration of only a face for recognition forget the possibility of saving the faces of your family for easy unlocking for everyone.
Touch ID allows up to five fingers to be added to the system for instant recognition and, although the purpose of the functionality is for the user to register multiple fingers (from both hands) to unlock in any situation, in practice people allowed close relatives to register their digital and have easy access to the device. With Face ID, this is no longer possible when passing your iPhone X to someone, you will have to unlock the device first or pass the alphanumeric password to the receiver.
The reason for this limitation makes perfect sense: the technology behind Face ID is extremely sophisticated and requires a lot of the device's processing power; if saving a face is already a formidable task for such a small device, imagine two (or five).
Of course, as Apple develops its facial recognition technology and iPhones become even more powerful, the possibility of adding more faces to the system will certainly arise. For now, however, the disadvantage remains if the part of registering multiple users is very important to you, it may be a good idea to give preference to the iPhone 8/8 Plus.
¡ ⢠¡
Finally, two other doubts regarding Face ID were resolved by Craig Federighi in person Appleâs vice president of software engineering responded to a readerâs email from MacRumors, who asked, first, if the facial recognition system would be able to recognize the user even with dark glasses. As is well known, in the keynote itself Apple said that the technology would be able to ignore various elements such as hats, makeup, scars, scarves or aging itself, but sunglasses were left out of the relationship.
Well, according to Federighi, we can breathe easy: Face ID is able to recognize you even with most sunglasses. According to him, only models that block a lot of infrared light and hinder the technology of seeing your eyes will make recognition impractical; otherwise, no problem.
The second question was related to security: the reader asked if, in the event that a thug took his iPhone X off, he could simply point the device at his face to unlock it and have unlimited access without major problems.
According to Federighi, this action would not be possible for two reasons: first, it is necessary that the user is looking at the iPhone for the recognition to be carried out. In addition, according to the executive, Apple wisely added an easy way to disable Face ID for a few moments: just press the buttons on either side of the iPhone X for a few seconds and the system will not work. At least not in time for the bandit to point it at your face, that is.
¡ ⢠¡
Gradually, we clarify all the details about Face ID. đ
via AppleInsider
